


A Link Beyond Memory

by ChromaticDreams



Category: 3Below (Cartoon), Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship Reunion, Gen, Mild Language, Post s3 trollhunters and post s1 3below, Slice of Life, Species Dysphoria, Texting, This will be a mixture of prose and text fic style, Troll Jim Lake Jr., hints towards jim/toby/claire as well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-09-30 15:36:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17226716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChromaticDreams/pseuds/ChromaticDreams
Summary: Shortly after the events of the Eternal Night, memories of a day that never happened somehow resurface in Jim's mind in his sleep- and upon recalling the friendship he and Aja formed, he decides to pursue that connection again.





	1. Civil Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Civil twilight-** Period of time when the sun is less than 6 degrees below the horizon, and only the brightest of the stars are visible to the naked eye.

Full night cover was just around the bend, hurtling towards them as fast as a runaway gyre.

Just not fast _enough,_  in Jim Lake’s humble opinion.

The young trollhunter sat crouched in the shadows of a sturdy elm, absentmindedly flexing his fingers (only three- one of many changes it’d probably take forever to acclimate to) around Daylight’s hilt while keeping a watchful eye over Trollmarket’s refugees. Most of the trolls spent the bulk of this day in temporary hibernation and were only now groggily waking up. Anyone as unlucky as him, however, filled their time with attempted sleep, bizarre dreams-that-might-not-be-dreams about aliens and time loops, and unwanted tossing and turning. It was difficult, trying to shift his rest period back to align with daylight hours. Thankfully, the forest’s lush canopy shielded the diverse company of trolls from the worst of the retreating sun as they gathered their belongings for their second night of travel. It’d dip even further below the horizon within the next ten minutes, plunging the California wilderness into a darker shade of twilight.

Part of him wished full nightfall would come sooner. Anything, if only to lessen the ache in his chest just under the amulet that yearned for the touch of real daylight against his skin. Or hide, he supposed. He flexed his hands, one captured within a gauntlet and the other free, further testing the peculiarities of his new form. His own hide wasn’t rough and rock hard like the others, rather… gently textured stone instead. And unlike any standard troll he still bled scarlet when injured, which meant instead of a crystalline core he still possessed a circulatory system, a heart wildly pounding away under the armor. Geeze, at least _some_ aspects of his anatomy were still vaguely recognizable. It wouldn’t be enough to stop him from feeling like a kid marooned on training wheels all over again, but it was surely something. A small consolation.

“Master Jim,” he heard Blinky call, and snapped to attention. He leapt to his feet with the nimbleness of a cat. In one fluid motion he returned his sword to the magnetized hold on his back. His mentor advanced towards him, knapsack straps slung over his upper shoulders. He couldn’t help but smirk at the sight, made mildly funny since the knapsack was clearly meant for two armed individuals. “I believe we’re almost ready to embark upon the next leg of our journey.”

Jim peered at the dimming bands of ambient daylight still visible through the trees, hugging his arms to his chest. “It’s not completely dark yet.”

He frowned, eyes rimmed with sympathy. “Yes, but I trust that you’ll find the foliage provides adequate shade. Additionally, you need only avoid direct sunlight. Twilight is no bother.” Gently, he rested two hands upon his shoulder and upper arm. “There’s nothing to worry about, I assure you. We trolls are a hearty bunch.”

“ _We_ trolls,” he murmured near imperceptibly, rubbing one of his three stony fingers against his thumbnail, hard and jet black. “Still gonna take some getting used to, that.”

“Jim!”

His ears perked up at the other familiar voice. Claire jogged towards him, carrying two light backpacks. She’d long since changed back into street clothes, her armor stored in an enchanted jewel of Merlin’s creation hanging on a chain around her neck.

“Ah, Claire!” Blinky greeted.

“There you are,” she exclaimed, dropping the bags and throwing her arms around Jim’s midsection.

The sheer enthusiasm of her embrace knocked him backwards a few steps. He chest rumbled with soft laughter, and he promptly swept his girlfriend off her feet. She squealed as he spun her around. Sadly, the ache pulsing like a jackhammer deep in the small of his back was hard to ignore, which forced to set her down least he injure himself again. Still, the grin stretched across her rosy cheeks was contagious. The corners of his own lips turned up in response- but the smile was controlled, reigned in. He couldn’t help but be self conscious of the short trollish tusks protruding from his mouth and the unnatural way they moved against his upper lip. 

“I charged your phone while you were resting,” she told him, patting the pocket of her denim skort. “We ready to leave?”

“Just about.”

“Just about-?”

“Looks like there’s still a few stragglers, some who haven’t woken up yet,” he said, and slumped against the trunk of the old elm tree he’d spent the day resting under. “Ugh, I wish that was me. I’m so tired. And- and sore.”

“If you weren’t, frankly I’d find myself far more concerned,” Blinky commented, crossing his arms. “You’ve survived circumstances no normal troll should, it’s only to be expected you’d have a few sore limbs. Healing takes time.”

“I _know,_  Blinky,” he groused, rolling his eyes.

He squinted, mouth turning in mild displeasure. “As I’ve heard Barbara say a few times, I don’t think I appreciate your tone.”

“And I don’t need you to mother me, okay?”

Blinky stilled, his six eyes nearly pinning him down like a butterfly on a mount. The intensity of his gaze was _mildly overwhelming,_  to put it in a few words. Not to mention quite embarrassing, in front of Claire. He didn’t need any of this ‘well-meaning’ badgering, not tonight. Jim ground his back molars together, and leveled him what he hoped was an equally piercing gaze.

“Fair enough,” Blinky conceded a few heartbeats later, blessedly backing down. “But… patience, Master Jim. You’ll find that patience yields the destiny of us- hey! Hey, who said you could pilfer through the rations? Oh, no, no, no!”

Behind them, a trio of gnomes taunted him from atop the open sock sack, one of them blowing a raspberry. Blinky toddled towards the mischief makers as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. But just as he was about to close in on the tiny pickpockets, he tripped over a branch a fourth gnome knocked into his path and face planted in the dirt. The gnomes chortled, snatching a handful of socks each and bolting for the nearest bush.

Jabbing two fists in the air, his trainer hobbled back onto his feet and chased after them. “Why you come back here, you thieving little-!" 

Jim couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, glad for the unexpected reprieve from his even if it came at the hand of those mischievous vermin. “I didn’t even know we had any gnomes following after us. Gosh, poor Blink.”

Claire leaned against the mossy elm next to him, nestling herself under his arm. “Any bets on if they’ll cause more trouble than Glug?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, gently brushing his fingers along her forearm in small, rhythmic circles, “but right now I’d say chances are split pretty even. Come on, let’s get some fresh air before we head out.”

She caught his hand in hers, and laced together, the two advanced towards the darkened clearing away from the center of camp. They disappeared beyond a curtain of trees and shrubs, wholly alone in their corner of the woods besides the occasional chattering of birds. Huh, noisy birds. Perhaps there was a nightjar nest hidden somewhere nearby. He turned his attention skyward, admiring the stars just beginning to show up in the expanse visible through the boughs’ clearing. As he swung their hands between them, enjoying the faint breeze their motion created, Jim realized with a pang of sadness that he likely missed the blue hour, that short period of time midway through early twilight when the ambient light scattered throughout the atmosphere took on soft hues of blue. Disappointing. He kinda hoped he’d get to watch it, and admire the picturesque view of the valley it painted. Oh well, there’d always be plenty of others.

One glance at Claire told him that she’d been studying him with the same scrutiny and interest he’d bequeathed the stars. Her brow creased in that telling way it did whenever their conversations were about to grow especially emotion-y.

“Hey, you doing all right?” she asked.

“Fine. It’s just…”

He scraped his foot through the loose dirt. Suddenly the weight of his armor bearing down on his shoulders was far more noticeable than usual.

“I’m fine,” he repeated, forcing a grin.

Claire didn’t seem at all convinced. She narrowed her eyes. A few sleepy trolls lumbered past them as they ambled further away from camp. Behind them in the distance, he heard Blinky call for attention, attempting to corral the wild lot of them for naught. Ol’ Blink wasn’t super great at the enforcement part of leadership yet, bless his stony soul, but give him time.

“You do know _why_ I decided to leave Arcadia to march cross country with you, right?”

He doled out a sheepish smile, and carded his fingers through his coarse hair. Stomach fluttering with self conscious jitters, he curled them against the base of his horns. “Uh… summer vacation?”

“If I wanted a vacation I’d have gone to stay with my abuelita as planned.” Rolling her eyes, she jabbed her elbow into his side, a playful gesture. “I left for you, you doofus.”

“And I never asked yo-“

“I know. I came anyways.”

Jim’s faraway glance zeroed back on her in an instant hearing this, drinking in every last drop of absolute honesty evident within her irises, overloaded with sheer wonder at _just how good his friends were to him, just how deeply they really care,_ and _there’s nothing he could ever do to fully repay this kindness was there?_

_This._

Now _this_ made him think. 

Because he wasn’t lying. He never asked her to come. Not once did he suggest the notion to her, or even _wish_ for her company on this journey at all. Tagging along was one hundred percent her idea. She came because she genuinely cared about him, and wanted to be with him in support. As he gazed at her- at the shadows dancing along her face from the ambient light produced by the camp, and the assured smile teasing at her lips- he knew without a doubt that if he wasn’t already in love with her, he would be now. Her and Toby both were just so, so… incredible. He didn’t deserve them. Truth be told, it made him guilty for telling Tobes to stay behind, even if leaving Arcadia in his protection was a wise idea.

“Thing is, you shouldn’t be alone,” Claire continued. “Especially not right now. I came, because otherwise it’d just be you, a bunch of trolls, and a smelly old wizard.”

“Smelly?” He let out a soft laugh. “Merlin sucks, sure, but he doesn’t _smell_ bad.”

“No, he does, he smells like mothballs, and you just can’t tell anymore because you’re too used to strong odors.”

“Hey, wait, are you saying I-“

She clasped both her hands around his own, gently tracing her glossy manicured nails across his rough hewn ebony ones. “Jim, please. You’ve done _so_ much for me. I think it’s time you let us help you some in return. I’m here to listen. If you need it.”

His chest began to rumble as he lost himself in the calming rhythm of her touch, familiar and yet so appreciated in its casual intimacy. The rumbling on the other hand was new, foreign, and- wait, oh god, was he _purring?_ Did trolls even do that? He hastily cleared his throat before she could bring it up. (She’d never let him live this down if she heard.)

“I- okay. Okay, so this’ll probably sound mad, but-“

Claire pursed her lips, crossing her arms. “I’m standing in the middle of the woods surrounded by trolls, I think I can handle it.”

“Good point.”

“I occasionally have those,” she said with a smug smile. “Now, penny for your thoughts?”

“It’s-” Jim scratched at his cheek, slapping away a mosquito out of sheer habit even though it couldn’t bite through his stone hide. “-this weird dream vision-y thing I had last night. Or, well, today, I guess. It felt real. Like, really, really real.”

“Hmm. Do you think it’s a lucid thing?" 

“No, more than lucid. I think it was… an amulet thing?”

“So magic, then.”

“Like a memory,” he nodded. “A lost memory I’m not supposed to have, but somehow _do.”_  

Claire brushed a stray strand of white hair behind her ear, then proceeded to unclip two barrettes to pin her bangs up neater. “What about?”

“It was- we were all caught in a time loop. In a whole day that technically never happened,” he said with a wide shrug. “Remember the science fair?”

Her eyes fluttered in sheer exasperation. “Ugh, volcanoes?”

“Yeah. Well, it was that day. We were trying to contain a rogue troll, but he’d somehow gotten his hands on some time warping technology, and every time we cornered him in the planetarium he set it off. Reset everything to that morning. And for like thirty cycles I was the only one who could remember a single minute of it, because of the amulet! And then-“

“Then?”

" _Then_ Aja and Krel got caught in the middle of it. Aja had this… this amazing energy weapon, that could transform from a spear to a shield, and she hid behind it when the troll set off the time warp, and then the next loop she remembered too. She wasn’t human, her _or_ her brother. I don’t even think they’re from Earth.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on. So you’re saying Aja and Krel, the ones who helped us catch lightning in a bottle, are… legit aliens?”

“Yes! They were under some sort of disguise, but in their true forms? They have four arms like Blinky, and bluish skin, and hair that glows, like, like, some sort of space bioluminescence. And they invited us to their home, even showed us the ship they crashed here in!”

“And you’re sure this is some sort of… lost memory?”

The earthy scent of bark and grass enveloped his senses while he considered her question, mingling with the faint trollish musk wafting from their camp. He inhaled deeply, sinking to his knees and feeling the shock absorption as the armored pads ground into the dirt. Day old aches radiated like tremors through his bones.

“It has to be. I’m positive of it,” he said, his jaw clenching in assurance. “I’ve never lucid dreamed, Claire, and it was way too detailed to be anything else.” 

Exhaling out the remainder of his stresses, he dramatically flopped to the ground face first, getting a mouthful of soil for his troubles. He hated that it actually tasted _good_ now. He spat out the remaining grit after swallowing a little, and then rolled onto his back, in perfect view of a gap between the tree canopy to admire the deepening twilight sky through.

Without a word, Claire also sat down in the half dead patch of grass and laid adjacent to him. His eyes locked with hers, misty ocean blue leveled against rich hazelnut.

“I believe you,” she whispered. 

Jim’s heart fluttered. A wide smile toying at his lips all the while, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss (as gentle a kiss he could manage with one inch tusks) against her forehead.

“You have… no idea how much that means to me,” he said, and shifted to lay on his side. “Thing is, I just- we all ended up friends by the end of it, especially Aja and I, and- I want that.”

He closed his eyes, subconsciously twirling blades of grass between his fingers.

“I _need_ that,” he continued. “If Aja really is… not from this world. If she really is under disguise… Then she understands what it’s like to feel completely detached from a body that’s still so, so foreign.”

“Oh, Jim,” she breathed, voice fraught with untapped emotion. Specifically, pity. And pity was the last thing he needed more of right now. Not her fault, he knew. But the one who pities is the one who hasn’t experienced. Imagine, actually having someone in his life who’s traveled the same hard path.

“I love all of you so much, and I know you’re all trying to help however you can. But you can’t help me with this. Not like someone like her could.”

With his admission hanging heavy in the air, the two lay side by side content in partial silence, besides the occasional squabbling voice emerging from their campsite and the endless echoing of crickets. Above them, the faint trails of a shooting star glided across the heavens.

Jim decided to take it as a hopeful sign that his chaotic life was about to take a turn for the better. 

“Well…” Claire ran the back of her hand against his cheek, as tender in touch as in tone. “If you really wanna get to know her again… D’ya think someone back in Arcadia might have her number?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter written and third chapter 1/2 done, just creating some visual elements I'm gonna add in. This is gonna be probably four chapters.
> 
> The next one is where the text fic thing comes in, and other tagged characters- it's a very different style than I've ever attempted, but hopefully it'll be fun.


	2. Transit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Transit-** The instant when a celestial object crosses the meridian, thus reaching the highest point in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If for whatever reason you cannot see the image at the beginning of the chapter, it is a "screenshot" I made of a text convo between Toby and Jim, modeled after the view of the messaging app seen in 3Below. Text reads:
> 
>  **J:** Heyo! Guess who just woke up a bit ago  
>  **T:** jimbooooo my maaaan hows it hangin in trolltopia  
>  **J:** Okay we're about to start on our second leg.  
>  **T:** niceee
> 
> The rest of the conversation follows from there.

_**T:** hhhh miss ya already. tbh i dont know what im supposed to do this summer now ahah_

_**T:** i was all looking forward to hangin with you and claire and everyone else in trollmarket and now… _

_**T:** i mean i still have aaarrrgghh. and darci and eli too i guess but _

_**T:** really starting to wish i came along. _

_**T:** i know you said to watch over the town while youre gone and i know thats a good point but honestly i just wanna be with you _

_**T:** jim? _

_**T:** yoooo ? did u die _

_**T:** god i hope not after all the end of the world chaos thatd be really anticlimactic_

 

_**J:** Sorry no I lost signal for a bit!! Miss you too gahhh. _

 

_**T:** pls know if you so much as say the word ill crawl on the first airplane i can find and launch myself directly at your face _

_**T:** jim liSTEN jim im not even kidding _

_**T:** screw arcadia _

_**T:** if you need me im there _

 

_**J:** Omg I’ll defo keep that in mind _

 

_**T:** ..jk dont screw arcadia tho i love this place. also its already screwed enough at this point so _

_**T:** hey but you think merlin could make me another warhammer for my growing arsenal? _

 

_**J:** Yeah I think he could be easily convinced. _

_**J:** He’s kinda sucking up to me now hahah_

_**J:** He already made Claire a sorta necklace amulet to store her armor so a magic hammer should be no problem _

 

_**T:** awesomesauceee _

 

_**J:** Any particular reason lol? _

 

_**T:** i dunno i just think itd look wicked cool to double wield, like general orzan from gun robot three. also lets be real after all the crap he put us through we deserve S W A G _

 

_**J:** I’ll ask tomorrow. Hey quick Q for you though _

_**J:** Well okay not exactly quick _ 

_**J:** It’s actually a long story but- _

 

_**T:** ye? _

 

_**J:** Do you happen to have Aja’s number or anything? _

_**J:** We took her and her bro down to the Janus Order, lightning in a bottle, remember her? _

 

_**T:** ye i know- lively! and uhhh don’t think i do? havent really talked to them since why _

 

_**J:** I get the strangest sense we’re supposed to know them more than we do. Had a really weird dream but it felt more like a lost memory. Think it’s an amulet thing, like that alternate timeline it made me live through once? _

 

_**T:** huh funky _

 

_**J:** Also supposedly according to the dream/memory both Aja and Krel are… not from Earth? _

 

_**T:** dude no offense but are you sure it wasnt just a normal dream_

 

_**J:** Seriously.? _

_**J:** Merlin turned me into a fucking TROLL and aliens are where you decide to draw the line _

 

 _**T:** okay yknow thats fair_ 

 _**T:** i take that back _ 

_**T:** okay so,, aja and krel are MAYBE aliens. got that. go onnn _

 

_**J:** What I saw honestly felt so real, I swear. It was two weeks ago, at the science fair. We were fighting a troll in the planetarium with them, and the troll kept combining magic with some alien tech, which kept reversing everyone back to the beginning of the day, like a time loop or something. But I could remember everything bc of the amulet. Aja remembered bc of some energy shield she had. We lived through the same day almost a dozen times. _

 

_**T:** whoa… _

 

_**J:** And get this- in some of those loops we even went to their house and got to look around inside their spaceship! But none of us are supposed to recall any of it bc technically the entire day never happened? It’s how we defeated the troll, that bit’s a little fuzzy. A lot of technobabble sorry. _

 

_**T:** goddd out of all the days to forget huh _

 

_**J:** Right?? _

_**J:** I guess… if she remembered all of this before I’m kinda curious if she still remembers now too. If it really happened. We were friends in that memory. It’d be nice to maybe get to know her again, y’know?_

 

_**T:** okay you’re prob gonna hate me for suggesting this but i THINK steve has her number _

_**T:** bc i was talking to darci and she said that mary told her that aja and steve are like, a thing now _

_**T:** a Thing thing _

_**T:** i believe her exact words were ‘staja’ ? _

 

_**J:** Oh my god how’d that happen is he even capable of proper flirting _

 

_**T:** well if shes an alien like you think then maybe she doesn’t know what human flirting looks like _

 

_**J:** Haha maybe indeed. I’ll go talk to him thanks _

_**J:** G’night Tobes love ya _

 

_**T:** night buddy <3 _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admission, I had far too much fun with the text format. I've never attempted anything like it, but I especially wanted to create unique "character voices" that extended into the way they each type- which was a cool challenge.
> 
> I imagined Toby as the sort of person who types out his thoughts far too quickly to care about punctuation, and IMO if Trollhunters was set just a year later (I generally just imagine it all set in 2016) he'd be keymashing. Jim is more of a full sentence type of guy who never turned off auto capitalization.
> 
> ALSO, a note on the contact photos- (Jim's which I directly took from a screenshot from Claire's phone, and Toby's which I edited from some 2D concept art)- That's the photo Jim uses for Toby's contact, and I imagine there's probably some inside joke where Jim took a really derpy photo of him at one point and they laughed so hard about it that he immortalized it as his contact. Jim's personal contact photo is... well, as this all takes place post s3 of course, a rather sad reminder of his loss of humanity. He can't bother himself to change it currently.
> 
> Future chapters will likely be a mix of text AND prose, instead of one or the other. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
